37 died in post-poll chaos — KNCHR report

Thirty seven people died and 126 others were injured during the post-election chaos witnessed between August 9 and 15, according to a report released Monday by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.

The deaths were recorded in Kawangware, Mathare, Kibera, Lucky Summer, Baba Dogo and Huruma in Nairobi County; Kondele, Manyatta, Nyamasaria, Nyalenda in Kisumu County; Siaya town and Ugunja in Siaya County; Rangwe in Homa Bay County, Tana River and Elgeyo-Marakwet counties.

A total of 27 people were killed in Nairobi, Kisumu (3), Tana River (3), Siaya (2) and one each in Homa Bay and Elgeyo-Marakwet counties.

MINORS
The dead, the report says, included seven minors; three girls and four boys, and the youngest was six-month-old Samantha Pendo, who succumbed to injuries after being clobbered at home in Kisumu’s Nyalenda slum.

Thirty victims were between the ages of 20 and 45; 28 of whom were male and two females.

The KNCHR report says 35 people were killed by the police while quelling protests immediately after President Uhuru Kenyatta was declared the winner of August 8 polls, which were later annulled by the Supreme Court.

“Except for two cases caused by civilians, the rest were allegedly because of excessive use of force by police,” the 261-page report titled Mirage at Dusk says.

“While the commission was not able to determine whether the action to use force by security agents was predetermined and targeted, it is clear from our analysis that majority of the victims were from one ethnic community and from informal settlements,” it adds.

STABBED
In Elgeyo-Marakwet County, for instance, the report says a 15-year-old girl was allegedly shot dead by the police as they dispersed a crowd that had gathered at Chesoi Tallying Centre to express their displeasure at the delay in announcing the election results on August 9.

In Tana River, a man was stabbed to death following an invasion by five armed men who disrupted the counting of votes at Hola Secondary School,which was the Constituency tallying centre in Galole on August 9.

SEXUAL VIOLENCE

The police officers manning the tallying centre responded by shooting dead two out of the five men who interrupted the counting of votes.

“Out of the 126 documented cases of people who were injured, only three constituted cases of civilian-to-civilian confrontation.

"Majority of the reported cases were as a result of police aggression towards civilians,” KNCHR chairperson Kagwiria Mbogori said while unveiling the report in Nairobi.

“There were six reported cases of sexual violence against women and girls including rape, which were perpetrated by civilians and police,” she added.

INCIDENTS
Before the August 8 elections, political violence was widespread in Nairobi, Bungoma, Kakamega, Kisumu, Migori, and Siaya counties.

Kisii, Garissa and Elgeyo-Marakwet counties recorded the least incidences of political violence prior to the August 8 elections.